BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will begin moving greeters into its stores from the lobbies, ending a long tradition of having customers see employees as soon as they enter the building, said a Bloomberg report.
The greeters will be moved near the cash registers to direct shoppers to products or shorter checkout lines, David Tovar, a spokesperson for the Bentonville, Ark.-based company, told the news agency.
Wal-Mart has used greeters since 1980, when founder Sam Walton decided they would make his low-price stores friendly and welcoming. The move shows that Wal-Mart is rethinking many longstanding practices as it tries to boost profit margins and same-store sales, said the report.
During the past six months, Wal-Mart reassigned greeters at its 3,000 U.S. supercenters from the third shift, which runs from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The company has been looking for ways to increase productivity and save money to protect margins and keep prices on its products low.
Greeters at different stores have been told for the past few days that they will be reassigned,
Tovar said Wal-Mart is making the move to improve customer service.
"It's a better position inside the store," he said. "The greeters will be able to assist customers in more effective ways. Whether they are coming in the door or are 15 feet away, they will still be able to greet people."
In other Wal-Mart news, the company said that its U.S. marketing team would now work under the leadership of its chief merchandising officer rather than as a separate group as the retailer works on improving its communication with shoppers, added a Reuters report.
Under the new plan, Wal-Mart U.S. chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn will report to Wal-Mart U.S. chief merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton. Previously, Quinn reported directly to Bill Simon, the president and CEO of the business.
Mac Naughton, who is responsible for merchandising across Wal-Mart's more than 3,850 U.S. stores, continues to report directly to Simon.
The shift comes as Wal-Mart sees a need for better coordination between the two groups. Shopping and advertising are being quickly transformed by the Internet, social media, smartphones and other shifts in both shoppers' behavior and reaching shoppers with the right campaigns.
Mac Naughton is familiar with running merchandising and marketing together, the report said. Before he joined Wal-Mart in 2009, he was the executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at grocer Supervalu Inc. He has been chief merchandising officer of Wal-Mart U.S. for a year after serving in other merchandising roles.
Quinn, who joined Wal-Mart in 2005 and got his current role in 2007, leads marketing efforts including customer research, strategy, e-commerce marketing, private brands and customer communications.
The announcement came in a memo sent to U.S. employees on Friday that was obtained by Reuters.
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